From left in the front row, crowd members Hennie DuRand, Justin Nemeti, Dan Ritchie and Erica Humphrey react to the sound of afull-scale-reproduction 1841 U.S. Mountain Howitzer fired by Jack Stone, Sean Habgood and Jake Lawlor (not pictured) on Sunday atBuffalo Bill’s Western Roundup at the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave in Golden.

At the age of 9, Ralph Melfi donned Western attire, stuck a fake mustache onto his face and announced to his mother, “I want to be Buffalo Bill.”

And today, now in his 50s, he is Buffalo Bill. Or at least as close to it as a man can be.

Melfi was named Colorado’s official Buffalo Bill by the state legislature in 2004, an honor never before bestowed in Colorado’s history.

On Sunday, he showed his skills as the Old West legend at the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave’s Western Roundup on Lookout Mountain. He was joined by his wife, Barb Melfi, who was similarly honored as Colorado’s official Annie Oakley.

The legislature cited this duo of fourth-generation Coloradans for keeping the Old West alive.

“Annie” gave shooting demonstrations, and “Buffalo Bill” attempted to separate the myth from the man.

“There’s a lot of nonsense that goes on out there. It’s fun, but it’s not accurate,” Ralph Melfi said.

The couple, believing that no one in the area was depicting Annie and Bill correctly, began performing in the roles 17 years ago. They are now chief performers for the Great American Wild West Show.

Ralph Melfi’s fascination with the historical character began at an early age. His wife says they have pictures of him wearing guns and holsters in diapers. As a kid, he frequently visited the Buffalo Bill Museum on Lookout Mountain. He has read more than 7,500 books on Buffalo Bill’s life.

“I read it, studied it and then would go to places he was. I figured out what made him tick,” he said.

There are two myths that Ralph Melfi finds himself combating the most.

“Buffalo Bill did not kill all the buffalo, and he was incredibly kind to the Native Americans,” he said.

Buffalo Bill’s nickname came from his role as a buffalo hunter for the transcontinental railroad workers in 1866. There were still about 20 million bison on the range during Buffalo Bill’s time. According to Melfi, the extermination of the buffalo was a military tactic used against American Indians and was instructed by Gen. Philip Sheridan. This was the opposite of everything Buffalo Bill stood for, Melfi said.

“He represented kindness, generosity and equality,” he said. “He had a very ethnically mixed Wild West Show. And everybody was paid the same.”

Ralph Melfi’s drive for historically authentic acting was recognized in 2010 when he won the National Buffalo Bill competition in St. Joseph, Mo. His prize? Fifty gold coins in a leather pouch.

Kristen Leigh Painter was a former business reporter who focused on airlines and aerospace coverage. She joined The Post in September 2011 and departed for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in August 2014. She graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a master's in journalism after earning a bachelor's in history from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse.

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